• Ethical Decision Making Process

● What are relevant facts?

● What are ethical issues?
● Who are stakeholders?
● What are possible alternatives?
● What are ethics of alternatives?
● Ask questions based on Rights perspectives.
● Ask questions based on Justice perspectives.
● What are the practical constraints?
● What actions should be taken?
 Definition of Ethics
● According to Manuel G. Velasquez it is “a study of moral standards whose
explicit purpose is to determine as far as possible whether a moral judgment
based on that standard is more or less correct.
● According to Epicurus ethics is a science that “things to be sought and things
to be avoided with ways of life and with telos (Ultimate purpose or goal).
● According to The American Heritage Dictionary Ethics is “ the study of
general nature of morals and of specific moral choices, moral philosophy and
the rules and standards governing the conduct of members of a profession.
● In sum, Ethics is a moral and normative science which refers to human
behaviors as right, good and proper.
● However, these principles do not lead to a single course of action, but
offer a means of evaluating and deciding among competing options.
Personal Ethics and Business Ethics
● Personal ethics refer to the set of moral values that form the character and
conduct of a person.
● Organization ethics describes what is right and wrong or good and bad , in
human conduct in the context of an organization.
● Personal ethics often include values like:
● Openness.
● Honesty.
● Friendliness.
● Respect for others.
● Loyalty.
● Personal responsibility
Examples of primarily business-focused values include:
• Punctuality.
• Abiding by the law.
• Nondiscrimination.
• Abiding by industry standards.
• Commitment to ethical sourcing.
• Commitment to fair trade and fair worker treatment.
• Commitment to worker safety.
• Confidentiality.
Some personal ethics and business ethics are essentially the
same thing. Values that can find their way into both personal and
business ethical codes include:
• Honesty
• Integrity
• Transparency
• Accountability
• Fairness
• Kindness
• Commitment to sustainability
• Always choosing the action that will do the least harm
 A few examples of an individual’s personal ethics clashing with his
business and work ethics include:

• A marketer promoting a product he knows to be of lesser quality than

its previous iteration as “new and improved.”

• A doctor personally feeling that a homeopathy is a poor choice for

treating a patient’s condition but having to respect the patient’s bodily
autonomy to choose homeopathy over the doctor’s suggested
treatment.

• A judge who feels cannabis should not be illegal sentencing an

individual found guilty of a cannabis-related offense.

• A college admissions officer encouraging a prospective student to

enroll despite feeling that the student would not perform well in
college.
 Morality and Law
● James Rachels suggests two criteria fulfilling a minimum conception of
morality- Reason and Impartiality.
● Moral decision must be based on reasons acceptable to other rational
persons.
● The criteria of impartiality is fulfilled when the interests of all those affected by
moral decisions are taken into account.
● We often confuse legal and moral issues.
● Breaking an unjust law is not necessarily immoral.
 Law regulates and controls the external human conduct. It is not concerned with inner
motives. A person may be having an evil intention in his or her mind but law does not care for
it.

1. Law will move into action only when this evil intention is translated into action and some
harm is actually done to another person.

2. Law is universal in a particular society. All the individuals are equally subjected to it. It does
not change from man to man.

3. Political laws are precise and definite as there is a regular organ in every state for the
formulation of laws.

4. Law is framed and enforced by a determinate political authority. It enjoys the sanction of the
state. Disobedience of law is generally followed by physical punishment.

The fear of punishment acts as a deterrent to the breach of political law.

5. Law falls within the purview of a subject known as Jurisprudence.

Morality regulates and controls both the inner motives and the external actions. It is concerned with the whole life of
man.

The province of law is thus limited as compared with that of morality because law is simply concerned with external
actions and docs not take into its fold the inner motives.

Morality condemns a person if he or she has some evil intentions but laws are not applicable unless these intentions are
manifested externally.

2. Morality is variable. It changes from man to man and from age to age. Every man has his own moral principles.

3. Moral laws lack precision and definiteness as there is no authority to make and enforce them.

4. Morality is neither framed nor enforced by any political authority. It does not enjoy the support of the state. Breach of
moral principles is not accompanied by any physical punishment.

The only check against the breach of morality is social condemnation or individual conscience. 'Moral actions are a
matter of choice of inner conscience of the individual, laws are a matter of compulsion'.

5. Morality is studied under a separate branch of knowledge known as Ethics.

We may conclude the discussion in the words of Gilchrist, "The individual moral life manifests itself in manifold ways.
The state is the supreme condition of the individual moral life, for without the state no moral life is possible.

The state, therefore, regulates other organizations in the common interest. The state, however, has a direct function in
relation to morality."
• An action can be illegal, but morally right.
• During freedom struggle patriotic Indians hid wanted freedom fighters.
• An action that is legal can be morally wrong.
• A profit-earning company anxious to retain to management may sack
hundred of workers to save money.
How are moral standards formed?

• Our upbringing
• Value passed on to us through heritage and legacy
• Religious values that we have imbibed from childhood
• Values that were showcased during education
• Behavior pattern of those who are around us
• Explicit and implicit standards of our culture
• Our life experiences
• Our critical reflections on these experiences
• Bhagawad Gita underlines the fact that a person has
choice in action but not in outcome.
Religion and Morality
• Belief that source of ethics is religion
• Religion provides followers its own set of moral
instructions, beliefs, values, traditions and commitments.
• For example Christianity believes that we are unique
creatures of divine intervention “that has endowed them
with consciousness and ability to love”.
• Finite and bound to earth, born morally flowed with
original sin and they are prone to wrongdoing.
• But by atoning for their sins, they can transcend nature
and after death can become immortal.
• Hinduism does not provide one acceptable source of moral
standards.
• Ramayana, Mahabharta, Bhagvad Gita, Panchtantra etc. has
contributed for hindu moral standards
• Theory of Karma, Mukti
• Almost all hindu religious traditions agree in the belief that a
person’s actions in this birth will influence his next birth
• When the fruits of actions are such that they cannot be enjoyed in
present life, it is believed that benefits of right deeds or penalties for
wrong doing will be reaped in person’s next birth as a human or any
other being
• Therefore, people should concentrate on their actions without
worrying about result actions will bring
• Conduct is virtue which is free from these four things: malice, desire,
anger and bitter speech.
 Major virtues in Islam

1.Charity and 8.Fulfillment of promise

philanthropy 9.Modesty and humility
2.Forgiveness 10.Decent speech
3.Tolerance 11.Trustworthiness
4.Honesty 12.Patience
5.Kindness and leniency 13.Truthfulness
6.Kind treatment to 14.Anger management
animals 15.Sincerity
7.Justice 16.Respecting the elders
• Religions provides not only a formal system of worship, but
also prescription for social intercourse.
• Religions provide us moral guidelines and they are
inspiring but these are very general and hardly provides
any guideline for policy formation.
• Religious organizations do take position on politics,
education, economy, administration, medicine etc.
• They also help mould public opinion on national issues
such as abortion, euthanasia, homosexual relations etc.
• International issues such as nuclear weapons, help poor
countries to fight poverty, HIV etc.
Morality, Etiquette and Professional Codes
● Morality is moral code of individual code of an individual or of a society
● Etiquette is set of rules for well-mannered behaviors
● Etiquette is an unwritten rule or code for social or professional behavior such
as medical etiquette
● Professional codes of ethics which are special rules governing the members
of a profession such as doctors, lawyers etc.
● When people work in organizations, several aspects corporate structures
and functions contribute to person’s moral responsibility.
● Organization’s norms, group commitment to goals, pressure to conform,
diffusion to responsibility etc.